DPM mum on nuclear plants, slams Anwar

Despite the cabinet announcement that the government is looking into building not one, but two nuclear powered plants in the country, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin stays mum on the details.

“I don’t have the details yet. I know that (Green Technology, Energy and Water Minister Peter Chin) has said something about it.

“But we have not made any decision on it yet. We still have to get the opinions from others because this is a new initiative.”

Adding that success stories from other countries will be a benchmark, Muhyiddin (right) said the government would have to probe the plan further, “based on the experiences of countries with success in this field”.

Chin announced last Sunday that Malaysia plans to build two nuclear plants to generate 1,000 megawatts each, with the first plant to be ready for operation in 2021, and the second plant, a year later.

However, the Economic Transformation Programme timeline, announced back in October, only mentioned that one plant would be built.

In the meantime, the Pakatan Rakyat governments of Selangor and Penang have announced that they would bar the construction of any nuclear power plant on their soil.

‘Anwar desperate for saying I don’t care about teachers’

Meanwhile Muhyiddin – who also education minister – continued firing salvos against opposition leader and PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim over the latter’s remarks that he (Muhyiddin) does not appreciate teachers.

“It must be very stupid of the education minister not to appreciate teachers. I think this is an indication of how desperate Anwar is. After all, he was also an education minister,” said Muhyiddin after launching an education NGO, Teach for Malaysia, in Petaling Jaya this morning.

When Pakatan unveiled its 100-day reform plan during its convention last weekend, one of the resolutions was to hike the salary of teachers by RM500.

On Tuesday, Muhyiddin rubbished the plan, calling it empty promises, and saying that hiking a specialised sector’s salary could have a ripple effect on the entire country, which Pakatan had failed to take into account.

In response, Anwar followed up with another harsh statement, saying the minister did not appreciate teachers while the Pakatan plan was backed up with thorough studies.

Defending himself today, Muhyiddin said that he was merely saying that policymakers would have to look at the situation in totality first.

“It’s not that we can’t do it (give teachers a raise), of course we can. But we have to study the overall implications. What if the other civil servants start grumbling?” he asked.

BN to study Pakatan’s reform plan

Muhyiddin also threw the gauntlet at Anwar, challenging him to get the Pakatan states to reward their civil servants.

“Let’s see if he can increase the salary of their government staff in Selangor or Penang. If you say you want to help the teachers, why don’t you offer to your staff first to show that you are very keen in helping civil servants.

“See if you can do it,” he said in an open challenge to Anwar.

“The wise and clever Anwar should know. But because of his political manoeuvring and the general election, he is (making promises). ‘It’s okay if the country goes bankrupt or there are more expenses as long as I become prime minister’,” he said.